Four climate change protesters arrested after gluing themselves together around a statue inside the Houses of Parliament remained in custody today.

The three women and a man fixed themselves yesterday around the statue of Viscount Falkland outside the historic central lobby after entering the building as visitors.

Ambulance staff worked to release them before officers arrested the four for public order offences and criminal damage about two hours after the protest began, the Metropolitan police said.

The protesters belonged to the group Climate Rush, whose members say they are inspired by the "peaceful civil disobedience" of the suffragettes.

The statue they chose was one famously used in the past by suffragettes, who chained themselves to it to campaign for the vote for women.

The protest in St Stephen's Hall, an area accessible to the public after security checks, began just after 3pm. The action took place just yards from the Commons chamber, where the justice secretary, Jack Straw, was delivering his statement to MPs on prisons, but parliamentary business was not disrupted.

"They entered as visitors before taking this action," a police spokesman said.

"Officers arrested the three women and one man for public order offences and criminal damage. They are in custody at a central London police station. The business of the house was not affected."

Climate Rush's spokeswoman, Jenny Lovell, said the protest was linked to the government announcement which last week gave coal-fired power stations the go-ahead. Ministers have given the green light to a new generation of coal power stations, but some say the plans to capture and store carbon emissions from the power plants underground will not do enough to cut pollution.